


Our Happily Ever After

by justscribbling



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Married Couple, Mother-Daughter Relationship, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2018-01-27 19:10:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1719470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justscribbling/pseuds/justscribbling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver listens in on Felicity talking to their daughter after a bedtime story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Happily Ever After

"And they lived happily ever after."

Oliver paused outside the bedroom door, just in time to catch the familiar pronouncement of Felicity's voice. The smile came to him easily, genuine and without artifice. It did that a little more often these days. 

He was just about ready to the push the gap in the doorway further wide open, when he heard his wife continue. There was the soft tap of book covers closing, and her voice gentled to ask, "Do you know what that means?"

In the brief silence that followed, Oliver peered into the sliver of an opening between the door and door jamb, and saw Felicity and Abby propped up, side-by-side, against the headboard of the little girl's bed. His wife was smiling down at his daughter, who was looking up with wide clear blue eyes and an intensity that was often unnerving to receive from a four year old.

He and Felicity sometimes argued over who Abby had inherited that particular knack from. According to Felicity, it was _his_ blue eyes (never mind that Felicity had blue eyes, too) and -- Felicity would pretty much wave her hands at his face at this point -- the many different Looks (with a capital L) that was to blame. Personally, he thought it came from having a mother who was downright formidable in her intelligence. Abby stared at people and things as if she both wanted to know and already knew; if that wasn't Felicity, he'd eat the fletchings off his arrows.

His attention was pulled back to his wife as her smile both widened and softened around the edges -- one of his favorite Felicity-smiles -- and she leaned to touch foreheads with Abby.

"'And they lived happily ever after' means," Felicity said, "that they love each other very, very much." Felicity tucked their daughter into her side with one arm, and with just the barest urging, the two of them scooted down the bed to put their heads on the pillows. 

"But sometimes… sometimes," Felicity said, softly, and she pushed aside a blonde lock off Abby's forehead. "They will feel sad…" 

Oliver's breath caught, growing mesmerized not just with her words and her voice, but also the look on Felicity's face. A look of grief and pain and hurt that was wrapped up in so much love and strength, he almost couldn't understand it.

"And sometimes, they will get angry with each other and fight." Felicity smiled again, compassion now in her eyes. "Sometimes, the prince or the princess will get an…" She tapped at the bandaid on Abby's left elbow, courtesy of a bike fall, " _Ouchie_ ," and followed up with a finger tweak to Abby's nose. Their daughter interrupted her intense stare with a little giggle, in response to the teasing now in Felicity's smile.

"But because they love each other so… so much," Felicity went on, "they are going to stick together and work together, even when they get angry, or sad, or hurt. They love each other so much, that even if another bad guy comes back, they'll be okay. Because they'll fight. Together. And get through it. And because of that, they are very happy, because they love each other. They believe in each other. They have each other." 

The measure of Felicity's love and hope and strength was so apparent now, in every tiny gesture and look and soft words, that it finished the job of stealing Oliver's breath away.

Before he could step into the room,, Felicity tilted her head, and just for a brief moment, her brow pulled together in good natured uncertainty. "Do you understand?"

Abby was back to staring up at her mother, wide-eyed. Intense. Solemn. Thoughtful. Finally, with a determination that Oliver knew -- just knew -- came from her mother, she nodded and said, "Uh huh."

"Hmm," Felicity said. His wife, on the other hand, apparently seemed torn at whether to be convinced or not. She chuckled. "Know what?"

"What?"

"Daddy and I love you so, so, _so_ much." Felicity wrapped her arms around their sweet girl, and started planting noisy kisses on the forehead, nose, and cheeks... " _But_ it's time to go to sleep."

"But Daddy isn't--" Abby squealed under more affection. There was probably tickling involved.

"He'll be here."

And so it was to the sound of kissing and laughter that Oliver half-limped into the room. The kissing and laughter only got louder as he joined them. A pair of glasses went askew, too.

When they finally managed to tuck Abby into bed and closed the door behind them, Felicity leaned out of his one-armed embrace to inspect his foot brace and initially missed the expression on his face.

"You really should use the crutches, Oliver. At least at home. When Abigail starts to say she ' _doesn't need a sling for that broken arm_ ' or she ' _doesn't need to go to the hospital for that most-probably-is-a-fracture_ ', because you know that is going to feature in our future somehow, I am so going to blame you, and …"

She tilted her head at him as she noticed his look (Look?) and smiled. Another one of his favorite Felicity-smile: it was both knowing and not knowing. Yeah, he was right and very grateful about Abby inheriting these gifts from her mother. 

"What? What's that Look for?" Yep. Capital L.

He kissed her smile. "This is my happily ever after."

It took her a beat, "Oh," and she grinned. "It's ours."

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to the amazing mothers I know who are raising their sons and daughters to be awesome people. You may or may not know me, but I think you're awesome.
> 
> Some behind the scenes notes:  
> 1\. I had the hardest time deciding on the daughter's name. She was [Name] for a while, and it made me sad. I turned to Tumblr for help, and I finally decided on "Abigail" because Google told me it was a "common" Jewish name (technically, it was Avigail) and it meant "my father is joy" / "father's joy". It seemed to like a nice nod to both Felicity and Oliver.
> 
> 2.. Also, Avigail was King David's wife (a queen), and she was described as intelligent and beautiful.
> 
> 3\. Then I remembered abigail is the traditional term for lady-in-waiting, and then I went "Bah, I'm choosing Abigail and it's a lovely name, so there!"
> 
> 4\. I hesitated between Abby vs Abigail. I liked that Felicity and Oliver never shortened each other's names, and I had kind of wanted a non-nickname-able name. But when I chose Abigail, the idea of "Abby" confronted me. In my head, I think Felicity calls her "Abigail" while Oliver calls her "Abby" and "Abigail" (but Felicity doesn't mind either way). In the end, again, the duality is kind of a nod to both Felicity and Oliver (Ollie).
> 
> 5\. Although I didn't get to show it, the fairy tale Felicity was reading was obviously embellished or chosen by Felicity where the princess is a strong character in her own right. If there was rescuing, it was mutual rescuing involved.
> 
> 6\. Also, Oliver missed the bulk of the storytelling because he had screwed up his ankle on a recent mission and Felicity told him to take some painkillers because she could so tell it was bothering him. She'd get Abigail ready for bed first, and he could join them for good night kisses (and tickling).


End file.
